Ch.6060. Ghost Legion

# November 4th. A somewhat warm day despite the gradually cooling autumn.

“Why are these damn spiders invading again?!!!”

“Fuck! That’s what I’m saying!”

*Ratatatatatatatatata───!!!!*

The Hive Mind that had claimed the Gangwon Province area as its territory had begun another large-scale offensive after several months.

Naturally, the South Korean government had established quite thick defense lines along the borders of Gangwon Province after the previous offensive had somewhat diminished. The problem, however, was that this large-scale offensive differed in both scale and quality from the previous ones.

Until now, the bomb spiders, despite their large size, had been no more than punching bags except for their self-destructive nature. But now, they were shooting explosive fuel masses using their internal biofuel through hoses protruding from their backs.

As for the ordinary monsters that weren’t bomb spiders, they had undergone significant physical changes, seemingly having acquired dragon genes, perhaps from engaging with dragons. Dragon traits had manifested throughout their bodies.

While they previously resembled typical Hive Mind monsters with a mix of arthropod and insect features, these monsters had now developed dragon wings or scales instead of exoskeletons, and internal skeletons had formed to replace their vanished exoskeletons.

Additionally, whether due to the dragon species’ genes or not, these Hive Mind monsters had gained the ability to attack from a distance, spewing something like breath attacks… and these ranged attacks were actually the monsters’ bio-weapons.

When mid-level monsters fired energy produced from particularly powerful dragon-type bio-cores at full power, the destructive force rivaled that of decent tank shells.

Despite this, these mid-level monsters appeared far more frequently than mid-level monsters from other Hive Minds, which was why humanity was struggling considerably.

Even with reinforced concrete walls standing 20 meters high and over 5 meters thick, densely arranged machine gun turrets on top, and psychic barriers, they were still having difficulties.

The endlessly swarming “bomb spiders” were too numerous for the relatively small area they were supposedly spawned from, naturally causing certain concentrated fronts to become overloaded.

The energy of the psychic shields protecting the walls was continuously depleting as damage accumulated on the barriers, and the energy for the machine gun ammunition was gradually disappearing as well.

Though they had been somehow holding out by consuming resources and receiving supplies, there was a clear limit.

These monsters, stronger than anyone had imagined, had an uncanny ability to identify and attack areas where the defenders had even a single disadvantage compared to other regions. As a result, one defense base in western Gangwon Province was now on the verge of complete annihilation.

“When are those damn bird bastards coming?!!!!”

[4… 3 minutes! They’ll be here within 3 minutes, so please hold on a little longer, Platoon Leader!]

Air support from the air force was supposed to arrive within 3 minutes, but in reality, even with that support, they were unlikely to last those 3 minutes.

Tens of thousands had swarmed this tiny base where only 200 personnel were stationed, resulting in casualties exceeding half the personnel, and the psychic barrier’s energy was nearly depleted.

The platoon leader, a lower B-rank (level 4) psychic user, was squeezing out every bit of psychic energy he could, but even maintaining the minimum level for just one minute with the power of a single mid-level user required risking one’s life.

*BOOM! RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!*

“W-what’s that sound?!!!”

“It’s… it’s… the wall collapsing…”

“…Damn it! Damn it! God damn it!”

Of course, even that life-risking level of effort would be impossible if the wall containing the facility that formed the protective barrier collapsed.

*Screech. Screech screech screech.*

*Growl…*

After the concrete wall, damaged by an energy shell fired from a large mid-level monster’s mouth, collapsed under the impact, countless monsters climbed over the wall and entered beyond it.

The second defense line behind it was merely barbed wire, so at this rate, these monsters would undoubtedly invade human territory.

But they had no means left to stop this.

So, as the platoon leader stared blankly at the monsters that had begun pouring in…

*Flash!*

“W-what is that?”

“Light? Psychic power?!”

Suddenly, a flash of light burst from atop the collapsed wall’s debris, raising a cloud of dust, followed by an explosion that began to clear the dust away.

*Ratatatatatatatatata───!!!!*

*WHOOSH────KABOOM!!!!*

*WHOOM───THUD! WHOOM───THUD!*

Explosions erupted relentlessly from all directions, and various monsters were either turned into sieves or hunted down by the weapons that arrived with those explosions.

And after the dust settled, what appeared was───

“Those are… Nano-Tech’s…?”

Ten heavily armed humans wearing Nano-Tech equipment.

‘…No, are they even human?’

But the moment the platoon leader looked at them again, he began to doubt whether these beings were actually human.

Semi-transparent bodies with faint smoke rising from them, statures that must be at least 3 meters tall judging by the surrounding facilities, and even using teleportation—a psychic ability that humans absolutely cannot use.

To anyone looking, they seemed more like…

‘…Ghosts?’

Yes, they looked more like ghostly beings.

‘Could it be… really?’

And upon realizing this and checking those ten soldiers again, the platoon leader could see things he couldn’t notice before.

The being presumed to be the commander had already fired over 20 fully charged shots from a magazine-type plasma pistol without a single reload, continuing to fire bullets.

The weapons and suits they equipped were visibly old and damaged models released by Nano-Tech a year ago.

Strangely, the attacks from these suited ghosts (presumably) consistently eliminated enemies, while the monsters’ attacks rarely hit these beings.

One of the ten was equipped with a Giant Armor made by Sungkwang Group, and despite its power unit being completely destroyed, it was moving perfectly fine.

Moreover, their psychic abilities were clearly too powerful to be used by humans, and their precision far exceeded limits to the point where it seemed calculated by a supercomputer.

It was as if they had become something other than human.

“P-Platoon Leader… those people…?”

“…Are they even people?”

“W-what?”

The platoon leader stared blankly at those ten and said that, then quietly instructed his confused adjutant.

“Well, it doesn’t matter either way… Adjutant.”

“Yes!”

“While they’re engaged in combat, reorganize our facilities as much as possible, understood?”

“Yes, sir!”

As soon as the adjutant left the command and control room, he quickly accessed the psychically controlled facility system directly and began repairs.

And this phenomenon wasn’t occurring just here.

※ ※ ※

After the bomb spiders’ major offensive had passed, inexplicable rumors that began at various points along the front lines started spreading rapidly.

In moments of crisis, giant ghosts wearing Nano-Tech equipment appeared at various points along the front lines to save them—a story that would seem absurd by common sense, but…

The problem was that there were far too many people who were direct witnesses to these rumors.

Officially, these giant ghosts, observed in units of ten at 374 different front lines, repeatedly appeared with flashes of light, silently helped with defense, and then disappeared.

They commonly had semi-transparent bodies with smoke leaking out, like ghosts, and demonstrated strength impossible for humans.

Additionally, they all used somewhat damaged older Nano-Tech equipment and even followed Nano-Tech Guild’s formation system from before it was changed.

They appeared to anyone as ghost soldiers who had returned from death to help humanity, and as interest in them continued to grow…

When various nations’ satellites officially confirmed that they had been spotted appearing within Gangwon Province, wiping out monsters, their existence was officially acknowledged.

Therefore, all that remained was to clearly identify who they were, but therein lay the problem.

These ghosts (presumably) resolved both their appearances and disappearances with teleportation accompanied by light, making them very difficult to track, and the only byproducts they left on the battlefield were psychic residues.

At best, through the psychic energy generated during teleportation, it was discovered that they appeared here through some psychic dimension rather than physical reality, but this only served as a kind of proof.

With research results showing that the psychic dimension contains psychic energy imbued with the consciousness or memories of deceased psychic users, it became virtually established fact that these were the ghosts of fallen hunters.

Therefore, South Korea, and beyond that, the entire world, glorified these great warriors who had stepped forward to protect humanity even after death───

‘What the… hell…’

The Hive Mind, which had only intended to give special forces some combat experience in dealing with it, was completely dumbfounded that the idea it had put forward merely for disguise was receiving far better evaluation than expected.